Chapter 1. Introduction to Python

Python 3.9 is the default Python implementation in RHEL 9. Python 3.9 is distributed in a non-modular python3 RPM package in the BaseOS repository and is usually installed by default. Python 3.9 will be supported for the whole life cycle of RHEL 9.

Additional versions of Python 3 are distributed as non-modular RPM packages with a shorter life cycle through the AppStream repository in minor RHEL 9 releases. You can install these additional Python 3 versions in parallel with Python 3.9.

Python 2 is not distributed with RHEL 9.

For details about the length of support, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Application Streams Life Cycle.

RHEL 9 introduces several major changes in the Python ecosystem compared to RHEL 8, including the unversioned python command and architecture-specific Python wheels.

In RHEL 9, the unversioned form of the python command points to the default Python 3.9 version and it is an equivalent to the python3 and python3.9 commands. In RHEL 9, you cannot configure the unversioned command to point to a different version than Python 3.9.

The python command is intended for interactive sessions. In production, it is recommended to use python3, python3.9, python3.11, or python3.12 explicitly.

You can uninstall the unversioned python command by using the dnf remove /usr/bin/python command.

If you need a different python or python3 command, you can create custom symlinks in /usr/local/bin or ~/.local/bin, or use a Python virtual environment.

Several other unversioned commands are available, such as /usr/bin/pip in the python3-pip package. In RHEL 9, all unversioned commands point to the default Python 3.9 version.